


Deceptionist

by Seung



Series: ...As it has been said in a song (drabble game) [2]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Angst, F/M, Idol Reader, Inspired by Music, Inspired by song, Mild Language, One Shot Collection, Pre-Idol, Some Fluff, bad boy chanyeol, guitarrist chanyeol, guitarrist!chanyeol, pre debut reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:33:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22377256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seung/pseuds/Seung
Summary: 11.“I’ve got slicked back hairSkin tight jeansCadillac carAnd a teenage dream"- Rocker by AC/DC
Relationships: Park Chanyeol/Reader
Series: ...As it has been said in a song (drabble game) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610638
Kudos: 3





	Deceptionist

A stable boring but well-paying office job with a leash around his neck, drinking some trendy caffeine filled poison every morning and meeting his colleagues every night to lose the leash for a few hours, but only enough because the next day there’d be more of the same. Such a predictable future where he’d come over to his parents’ house during every weekend before seeing some chick playing hard to get while looking down on him until he’s making enough money to buy his upgraded version of anything she wants to live in that’s better than any of her nosy friends’, next thing a baby and he’d go to some of the back in the day’s routine with his old friends looking for an easy to get younger catch that’d last a night if he’s not too tired.

If life’s a train track, carefully planned and set by his well-off parents, then Chanyeol’s a train wreck, not the least sorry for destroying all this utopia and get on his own way, decided to be the worst disappointment of everyone lives. He doesn’t mind walking out of his house when his father told him to after going through a crazy range and breaking Chanyeol’s beloved guitar in pieces with bloodshot eyes, Chanyeol can’t really believe his mother tears are for him, it just seems like she’s crying for the now deconstructed image she has of him, Chanyeol can’t help but cry too, he’s not sure for what reason, but he cries as well. The dirty, small house doesn’t even have a proper door, let alone a locker, is much different from the house he came from, but it’s better than living in the streets and is far better than living a lie. There’s this guy, older than him, who lives a life he doesn’t know well but has no choice but share the small house with, his incomes are too short to pay for it alone and since he takes most of his times to dedicate to his dream, going for auditions and whatever he can get as long as he keeps playing his guitar.

Confined in a very small bedroom where his bed is a dirty comforter on the floor, Chanyeol’s past the time where he’d tell himself he made the right choice, he hears when the front door is slammed shut, a tell-tale that his roommate arrived, he doesn’t mind the sound of things falling on the floor echoing the background, nor the mumbled, incomprehensible talking, muffled not by the almost paper-thin walls but probably from the alcohol, at most, Chanyeol knows, Junmyeon probably brought someone in and he reaches out for his headphones.

Holding the pencil with his teeth, Chanyeol keeps his eyes narrowed at the music sheet in front of him while his fingers are drawn back to play with the well-known chords with a heartfelt familiarity, he stops every once to write down the new outcomes, to correct something, to write down a side-note, too distracted into his music and eager to ignore any other sound aside from his guitar to notice anything else.

It’s not a sound but a smell that makes Chanyeol stop everything he’s doing, it’s different than the smell of old sweat and dirty laundry that lingers around the house, not him nor Junmyeon are the cleanest people in the world, as long as he’s comfortable, he doesn’t mind wearing the same clothes as much as possible, it means he doesn’t have to deal with that confusing machine too much. But, again, it’s none of those smells, it smells like food and Chanyeol doesn’t stop to notice that it smells delicious and appetizing, he simply places his guitar and headphones down, jolting up towards the kitchen as fast as he can, the remembrance of Junmyeon almost setting the house on fire the last time he tried cooking while drunk almost causing him to panic.

The sight of Junmyeon passed out on the small sofa in the room between the two bedrooms, the even smaller bathroom and the insignificant kitchen makes Chanyeol doesn’t help.

“Do you want to kill everyone?”, he doesn’t want to look at whoever you are, instead, occupies himself with turning off the stove and whatever else he can find.

“What are you doing?”, you turn away from the vegetable you’re cutting to push Chanyeol away and he looks at you outraged.

He watches as you turn it all on again and checks on everything, his mouth agape and a dumbstruck look on his face.

“Me?”, he points at himself with a tasteless side-smile, “you’re the stranger cooking in my house!”, he protests, looking up and down at you.

Maybe at first, Chanyeol’s in doubt, but at a second glance he’s more convinced that he’s not seeing things and knows exactly who you are, the casual, training clothing and your bare face don’t really hide you as much as you’d want to.

It’d be hard to find a single person who wouldn’t recognize you, your face is everywhere, the newest girl group from one of the top three entertainment company, trending number one in every chart right after debut and though Chanyeol admits the music’s good, he’s already sick and tired of listening his friend and band member Baekhyun sing the chorus over and over again, whenever there’s a break in the rehearsal earlier the night before, Kyungsoo’s the one who spoke what went through Chanyeol’s mind.

 _“There must be some talent in the middle of this brainwashing bullshit”_ , the guy sounded much colder than he would, but still they shared the same thought.

No one in the band, not even Baekhyun who couldn’t stop talking about how hot you are, was very fond of mainstream artists when they work so hard with so little opportunities, so every now and then a discussion like this comes out. Now, looking at you up close there are two things Chanyeol can say for sure, the first is that, indeed, Baekhyun was unfair by saying you’re hot because seeing you up close like this and using no makeup, saying that you’re hot doesn’t even get close to how good you look and he tries to think about how’d be to have you wearing one of those revealing clothes he saw on that poster he passed the day before, and, the second thing—  
What are you doing in his house?

“What the fuck are you even doing here?”, his words mixed with frustrations and irritation went a little higher than he thought he could go, much like a teenager in the embarrassing beginning of puberty.

A small and amused side smirk plays on the corner of your lips, eyebrows tilting up beautifully, Chanyeol observes against his will, just the slightest, mocking him, Chanyeol gulps down not as subtle as he wishes, trying to keep a straight face despite the creeping blush on his cheek, not to say that you find it adorable, but the moment where you could say something passes when the sound of the food shimmering loudly makes you step away to turn off the stove.

“I’m here just to take care of my brother”, your stern tone sounds nothing like the sweet talker you are on the TV, “I’ll leave when I’m done”, you tell him over your shoulder while keeping your attention on the food once again.

“Brother?”, Chanyeol frowns and glance at the passed-out image of Junmyeon on the couch before looking back at you in disbelief, “you mean _him_?”, Junmyeon snores loudly as if to make Chanyeol’s outraged point even clearer.

“Yeah”, you reply giving little to no importance to his question even though your nerves are sky-rocketing, no one supposed to see you, no one!

“Kim Junmyeon”, Chanyeol tries again with insistence, “ _That_ Kim Junmyeon”, he points at the older guy as he walks to your side, “That guy’s your brother?!”

“I already said he is!”, you reply with impatience and try pushing him again, but this time he doesn’t let you, so you draw your hand back, “get away, can’t you see I’m cooking?”

Stubbornly Chanyeol crosses his arms over his chest and looks at you up and down before glancing back at Junmyeon again and just now he can see the similarities.

“That hard to believe, huh?”

“Almost impossible”, he mumbles, looking at you up and down.

You try turning away from you to focus on the food again, but his grip on your arm makes you stop, you look at where his hand holds you before looking at him, there’s already a lot in your head.

“You’re y/n, right? I mean… I already know it’s you, but—”, he licks his lips, tilting his head.

“y/n”, you see Junmyeon walking in the kitchen, rubbing his forehead, “why’re you here?”, he seems confused.

Junmyeon comes closer and when sees Chanyeol’s grip on your arm, he stops where he is and glares at his roommate.

“What are you doing? Let her go”, the threatening tone is obvious and Chanyeol draws his hand back, Junmyeon looks at you again, “y/n, you have to go back”, his voice is tender again and you’re not sure if he’s still drunk or not, but you can tell he’s hurt.

***

The stylish finishes the last few touches in a hurry and you run after the other members, the youngest grips on your arm with nervousness.

“I’m worried”, you smile, offering a hug in return.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be alright”, you tell her even though you’re worried and nervous just as much.

There’s a group of seniors and you greet them, bowing and smiling as you walk in, there’s the typical exchange of introductions and some of their curiosity fade in the next moment, focusing on themselves, you and your group do the same.

Instead of worrying about the performance there are other things swimming in your mind, you wonder if your brother went home safely after walking you back to the dorm, you wonder how things ended up when he went back home and more importantly, why didn’t say anything about how bad everything’s going for him sooner? You’d try to help him. He always posed as if he was doing just fine and has money enough to send you and maintain himself in Seoul, but maybe you’re too stupid to notice.

***

“You saw it wrong”, Junmyeon claims, stuffing his mouth with the food you left that morning.

Chanyeol scoffs, shaking his head and tries stealing some of the food just to annoy the other and gets his hand slapped hard with the chopsticks.

“Ouch!”, Chanyeol draws back his hand, two clear red marks from the chopsticks on the back of his hand.

“I didn’t say you could eat it”, Chanyeol shrugs, “don’t go around saying anything stupid”, the younger of the two clicks his tongue and leans back against the strangely clean balcony behind him.

“Hyung”, he starts leisurely, “if you want me to keep the secret”, Chanyeol gestures his hand calmly, closing his eyes and enjoying his moment, “all you have to you is ask me”

Opening his eyes with a small smile, Chanyeol leans his upper body closer, seeing the irritated and wide-eyed expression on Junmyeon’s face and enjoying every second of the older guy’s torture.

“Just ask nicely”, your smug expression could make Junmyeon puke, “You don’t need to lie to me.”

It’s obvious just how Junmyeon wants nothing but to strike a punch Chanyeol’s face, but he won’t, the older holds back the best he can, knuckles white from how tight he grips on the chopsticks and the edge of the table.

“Park Chanyeol, I swear—”, Junmyeon a low tone makes his threat even more valid, “if you try to screw up my sister’s career–”, the unapologetic expression on Chanyeol’s face makes him angrier.

“If I were you, I’d be nice to me”, Chanyeol does his best version of the ever so shameless Baekhyun. 

Looking at the time in his watch, Junmyeon sighs, jumping from his seat.

“All right!”, the older hisses at him grabbing his jacket thrown across the table, “What’ll take you to not say a word about it?”

And that’s where Chanyeol wanted to get at, he licked his lips parted to form a content smile. Maybe this was him being the worst version of himself, but this was a rare opportunity, a precious golden ticket he wants to grip with all his might and never let go. 

“Nothing”, he shrugs.

***

“Is your brother here?”, one of the girls asks, seeing you scan the people crowd holding merchants displaying the group’s logo, you’ll be up next.

“No!”, your voice quivers with nervousness and you bite your lip, feeling her massage your shoulder, an attempt to calm you down.

“He’d never miss our second single debut, y/n. Don’t worry, he’ll come!”

It’s only when you taking the position on the stage that you finally see him sitting on a corner holding a banner with a cheering message and your name on it and you smile, Junmyeon smiles back at you. That guy’s there too, almost hidden in a shadow, hoodie pulled over his head as he almost lay down on the chair with his feet over the backrest of the chair in front of him, not caring about the angry glares of the girl who’s sitting there, you wonder why since Junmyeon never brings anyone along with him when he comes to see you, but you have to brush the thoughts away, smile and the song starts.

You have to perform again and again to guarantee a good content, then stage changes and you have to go again, but this is your dream, so you do it gladly, smiling brightly, a little too much when you glance at your brother whenever you have the chance, only to see him standing and dancing along with the choreography, the exchanged looks between you and your members tell you that the girls are amused by your brother’s antics as well.

The song ends for the last time - for this program’s recording at least - and the group stays in position until told otherwise, breathing in relief when it’s done, you follow the others out of the stage and wave at the crowd, waving at your brother and the grumpy guy beside him as well.

As usual, the group rushes back to the waiting room, your smile becomes a frown when you think about the state you saw your brother the day before and you wonder if he remembers calling you in the first place.

“y/n!”, you hear his voice when you’re sipping on an ice-cold water and smile instantly, behind him, that guy and the door closes behind them quickly.

Junmyeon isn’t subtle about how he stands protectively between you and the other guy who, you notice, is wearing something different than the day before and you hope that is clean, now that you know that house you wonder if there’s anything remotely clean in there.

“I think you already met Chanyeol, he’s my roommate”, Chanyeol nods at your direction.

“We met last nigh–”, Chanyeol’s words are cut by a pointed punch on his stomach, Junmyeon seems to be very much satisfied with it while Chanyeol winces in pain.

From all the times your manager offers Junmyeon to join the team, this is the first time he does, you recall how he’d say that he’d never hurt his pride working for the same guy he used to fight the most at school but, this time, he doesn’t only joins in but let Chanyeol tag along.

Setting his foot in that industry’s backstage is Chanyeol’s golden ticket and he knows it and all he needs to do is keep quiet about the fact that you sneak out the dorm at night.

***

“He’s not a bad person”, Junmyeon tried to explain.

“Then why can’t I talk to him?”, you asked Junmyeon once when he pulled you away from a nice talk with Chanyeol.

“I’m your brother, you just need to trust me"

And by now you’re already fed up with just doing whatever people tell you without question, pretty much just nodding and agreeing pathetically.

“You expect me to just say ‘amen’ to whatever you say?”, you half-yells at him.

Part of you know this is wrong, you acknowledge the hurt in his eyes when you just snap at him like that, but this irrational and frustrated part of yourself is overpowering your thoughts as you push past your brother, just wanting to get away from all the oppressive feeling that seems to crush you from inside, but there’s nowhere you can go, no one you can talk to that would understand you except for your brother, the other members wouldn’t understand either.

“Hey, hey! Wait! Where you going?”, you look up in anger to see Chanyeol holding you by your shoulders and you haven’t noticed you began crying, through blurry eyes you see him frowning and take a hesitating step closer, “what happened?”, his voice is softer.

You hear your brother’s voice in your head, telling you that Chanyeol’s not someone you can’t trust and you know you should listen to him, but you let Chanyeol place his arms over your shoulder and pull you close, you grip on his jacket when and hides your face on his shoulder and he lets you cry there. You don’t notice he’s not alone until he speaks again and obviously is not with you.

“Kyungsoo’s our vocalist and manager, so he’s usually better at this kind of things.”

“Of course”, your grip on his jacket tightens when you listen to the unknown male’s voice, “don’t worry about it”

Next thing you know, Chanyeol’s taken you to the group’s van, it’s the only place you can be alone and away from everyone, he lets you cry on his shoulder, he lets you talk about what’s in your head and he listens to you, he understands and comforts you until you’re feeling better again. Chanyeol manages to lift your mood with silly stories about your brother you never thought you’d hear about, it’s the first time you listen him laugh wholeheartedly, clapping his hand loudly as you tell him about something that happened when you were a trainee in the company. The grumpy Chanyeol you knew at first is someone you barely see, except when he seems like he needs some sleep, but except for that, from then on, he’s always there when you need it, always making you smile with silly jokes and antics.

Chanyeol helps you sneak out of the dorm with his friends and band members even your brother wouldn’t know about it, you meet the guy you heard the name that day, Kyungsoo and also, Baekhyun who seems to have too much unnecessary stories to tell, all of them funny, but makes you blush in embarrassment, there’s also Jongdae and along with Baekhyun, he makes lots of jokes about your “relationship” with Chanyeol and at that you gladly notice that Chanyeol blushes a deep shade of red just like you and not from the alcohol.

You don’t mind the fact that they don’t take you to an expensive restaurant as other people would do, you simply enjoy their company, somewhere in the back of your head you hear your brother’s advice, but this makes you smile so genuinely that you don’t mind them. Chanyeol takes you back to the dorm, without the other and if you thought the night couldn’t be any better, it’s because you didn’t expect him to press his lips on yours, testing the waters at first and smiling when you kiss him back, feeling butterflies in your stomach when you feel one of his hands cupping your cheek and the other intertwining his fingers on yours.

***

You are _most definitely_ in love with Park Chanyeol and the best part is that he’s with you whenever he can, he helps you sneak out of the dorm every now and then to see his rehearsal or a presentation somewhere and he always sneak away from his members to spend time with you afterwards, always being caring and considerate, listening to you and cheering you up when things aren’t quite as they should, the more popular you become, the more overseas schedules you have and that’s when you have to say goodbye to him and that hurts, but he always guarantee you that everything’s fine, that’d he’d be there when you’re back and he always is there for you.

Junmyeon’s not stupid and even though you and Chanyeol try not to be so close or affectionate when you’re brother’s around, still he manages to catch on it and one day, he follows you and Chanyeol on one of your attempts to escape from the crowds to be alone for a moment, needless to say he’s mad about it.

 _“Didn’t I told you to keep away from him?”_ , it’s the first time Junmyeon raise his voice at you.

“Wait, Junmyeon–”, Chanyeol tries to step between you and Junmyeon only to be pushed away harshly.

 _“You stay out of this and stay away from my sister, you hear me?”_ , with his finger pointing threatening at Chanyeol’s face, Junmyeon yanks you away from your boyfriend’s side.

“You’re not my father, Junmyeon!”, you pull yourself away, closer to Chanyeol, “stop being so overprotective, Chanyeol’s not a bad guy”

“What do you know about him, huh?”, your brother steps closer, glancing between you and Chanyeol, “have you met his friends yet?”

“Yes! I did! They’re not bad people either.”

“Don’t you think this is a little too weird, y/n? Are you blind?”, Junmyeon tries to get close to you and you step away, “did he ever told you anything about himself? I live with him for the past four years and all I know is his last name and his age, what do you know about him?”, he points at Chanyeol.

It is true that Chanyeol never talks about himself, he listens to your stories but never tells his, at least not something that tells you anything about his past.

“y/n, I’m your brother and I only want you to be happy”, Junmyeon’s voice is softer, but you can still hear his anger, you can see it in his eyes when he glances at Chanyeol, “I know just how hard you worked to be where you are right now and I don’t want some stupid guy to come in and ruin it for you, it’s not fair”

Maybe the worst part is that Chanyeol didn’t say anything to defend himself the whole time, he didn’t try to say anything back, he stood there, listening to Junmyeon and only interfering when things started to get too hurtful for you.

***

The group is global trending and you hardly have time to breathe properly, of course, you’re glad that your hard work’s paying off, Junmyeon gets a position as your personal assistant as soon as the fans push for a solo debut and he’s always with you, you find out that it’s not bad as you thought it’d be, he’s always protective but not as much as before, it’s good to see your brother goofing around your and the girls and is nice to tease him when he gather fans for being good looking just before you expose his dorky self on social media.

Something changes, Chanyeol almost disappears from your life after that day saying little to nothing, just like you met him and never explains himself and when you ask him, it’s when you don’t see him again. You miss him, you miss how sweet he’s always been with you, how he’d take the weight off your shoulders and act as if you’re just another normal person that doesn’t need to be perfect to be loved, you miss the way he kissed you and the way you’d feel so at peace when Chanyeol had his arms around you, how he’d make you laugh and blush, you miss the way he looked in your eyes sometimes and say it’s nothing when you’d ask him, kissing you instead.

Chanyeol’s not there when you come back from overseas anymore, he doesn’t reply your messages, doesn’t call you and you try not to feel hurt because there must be a reason, you just wish you had a reason to think that way, Junmyeon doesn’t mention Chanyeol anymore as if he never happened, he does try to introduce you to other people you end up being friends with, you meet other guys Junmyeon assures they’re nice and they are, but your heart’s with somewhere else.

***

“y/n! Come see this!”, one of the members calls you from across the dance studio.

You push yourself off the floor against your will to sit beside her on the couch, she’s smiling at the video playing on her phone and turns the volume up so you both can hear the interview 

“Isn’t that Chanyeol Did you know he had a rock band?”

Indeed, it’s him, makeup and all, along with his band members that you met and two others you never met, they introduce themselves as EXO and Chanyeol’s introduce himself as PCY, your eyes are eager taking everything in the interview, Chanyeol’s charming but shy and Baekhyun does most of the talking, strangely enough, Kyungsoo looks even more introverted than he already is.

That’d explain everything, if he’s been a trainee, then you understand why he couldn’t be with you as much. You look up when an agitated Junmyeon walks in.

“y/n, come on!”, he goes around gathering your things, not carrying about shoving them inside your backpack, you know something’s wrong, “we have to go, the general manager’s waiting in the car”

You stand up, watching him going around the room and making sure he got everything.

“What happened?”

“You didn’t bring a hoodie? A cap?”, you shake your head and he takes off his jacket to give you this hoodie, with the corner of your eyes you can see the girls getting their phones and you start to panic.

Junmyeon reaches inside his backpack for a cap and a mask.

“There are too many people outside, the security will drive my car so they’ll follow him and we’ll leave in the van, alright?”, you nod, but grab his wrist when he tries to pull you along with him.

“But why?”, you watch him tense and shot a side glance at the other girls before stepping closer so just you’d hear, he takes his phone out of his pocket and unlocks, the browser already filled with news about yours and Chanyeol’s affair, pictures of the secret dates coloring the screen.

“I told you to not trust him”, you can feel the wild loop your heart goes through before dropping on your stomach, “come on”, he grabs your hand, “the CEO’s waiting for us, y/n. We really have to go.”


End file.
